Humility

The New Testament is filled with Jesus’ teachings on humility, including this passage from the September 1st gospel:

For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be raised up.

What does humility have to do with climate change, you ask? Quite a bit, actually. When we have no humility, then we have little appreciation for what God has created. In Laudato Si, Pope Francis makes the connection:

Once we lose our humility, and become enthralled with the possibility of limitless mastery over everything, we inevitably end up harming society and the environment. It is not easy to promote this kind of healthy humility or happy sobriety when we consider ourselves autonomous, when we exclude God from our lives or replace him with our own ego, and think that our subjective feelings can define what is right and what is wrong.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta said:

Humility is the mother of all virtues; purity, charity and obedience. It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and ardent.

By being humble, we reject our selfish, anthropocentric, throw-away selves and submit ourselves to God’s will. And it is in humility that we can truly be in awe of creation and want to preserve it for all, including future generations.

Working together, we can help take care of our common home.

Paul Litwin